Movie Make-out

Ghost in the Shell gets the live-action treatment — in 3-D

Posted by Gordon on April 14th, 2008 at 10:07 pm CST | Category: News

Variety brings word that DreamWorks has picked up the rights to Masamune Shirow’s classic cyberpunk manga, Ghost in the Shell, about Major Motoko Kusanagi, a member of a covert ops section of Section 9, which specializes in combatting technology-related crimes, and intends to adapt is as a 3-D live-action film.

Steven Spielberg personally stepped into to help land the rights, nabbing it from under Universal and Sony’s noses. “Ghost in the Shell is one of my favorite stories,” Variety quotes Spielberg as saying. “It’s a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks.”

The three-volume Japanese manga has previously been adapted by Mamoru Oshii into two of the smartest, most beautiful anime flicks ever made, Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. An animated TV series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (in two 26-episode seasons) and a feature film follow-up to the series, Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C.: Solid State Society, have also been made, in a separate continuity from the films and the comics. Most likely, they’re going back to the source and re-adapting the first volume for this film as it own entity, apart from the other adaptations.

Jamie Moss (Street Kings and the upcoming Last Man Home) is set to write the screenplay. Avi Arad (Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Incredible Hulk) will produce with Ari Arad and Steven Paul of Seaside Entertainment.

Here’s a clip from the intro to the first Oshii film. (WARNING: Cartoon boobs. Not safe for work unless you work at a strip club.)

Related stories: Warner Bros. set to make Akira two-parter (updated), Quick Cuts: Akira, Toy Story 3, Ye Olde Times

Bookmark at:
StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Newsvine | Furl | Reddit Comments

  • Eh.

    A live-action Avatar movie? I think it could be good. But live-action Ghost in the Shell? What's the point? It's... It's Ghost in the Shell. No matter how well done the live action film is, there is basically nothing that can be added to it without also changing it greatly.
  • Dr. Halpinstein
    I would have to say my biggest worry is them taking the material and, lets be realistic here, just tarding it down and trying to sell it to the LOLZ!!!111 Japan-imation crowd.
  • Caolan
    Oh, it was a fun movie, despite some especially terrible acting, (mostly from Jay Mohr) and I think it shows the Keanau Reeves is plays a really good "grizzled tired guy". But it didn't follow through with the way it was advertised, since it had a lot less action than I thought it would, and I had the plot pretty much figured out halfway through. That was my real problem with it.

    Hopefully the blame can be placed on his co-writers, because I feel like Ghost in the Shell is a big enough property that it deserves good writing. I've never seen Moss' stuff before, so I really don't have any reference to go off.
  • I really enjoyed Street Kings! It was a bit dumb, sure, but fun as hell. (Joe and I talked about it last night on the Triple Feature -- which you can listen to by clicking on the button at right.)

    And, keep in mind, Moss was one of three credited co-writers on the film, so it's not entirely fair to assume he's responsible for the shortcomings in the script.
  • Caolan
    I think as long as they cast it well, it would be pretty hard to screw up. But at the same time, I'm a little worried about this Jamie moss fellow. I saw Street Kings yesterday, and it wasn't great. I hope that he'll do better with this since there's so much reference material to work with.
blog comments powered by Disqus